Nonfiction Workshop with MJ

Writers looking to fine-tune their skills with the help some of Miami’s best writers can take advantage of a series of workshops The Center for Literature and Theater @ Miami Dade College is presenting starting September.

The topics covered include everything from flash nonfiction to writing a novel “the TV way.” The featured writing teachers are David Beaty, whose short story “Ghosts” was included in The Best American Mystery Stories, 2000; M.J. Fievre (that’s me! that’s me!) , whose short stories in English have appeared in Haiti Noir (Akashic Books, 2011) and The Beautiful Anthology (TNB, 2012); Anjanette Delgado, whose first novel The Heartbreak Pill won Best Romance in English from the Latino International Book Award; and Adrian Castro, recipient of a USA Knight Fellowship in 2012-13.

Flash NON-fiction is an exciting and nuanced genre full of possibilities and surprises; it encourages writers to be economical and deliberate. The pieces, though diminutive in length, must still contain all the elements of narrative construction. How does a writer compress events and characterization into a few hundred words? Well, come experiment and play! The workshop will be beneficial for those first experimenting with the genre and for those looking to hone their skills. Write short, think long. Registration is now open. For more information, contact Nicole Swift at nswift@mdc.edu or 305-237-3528.

Michele-Jessica (M.J.) Fievre is the author of several mystery novels and children’s books in French, including Sortilège Haïtien (2011). She obtained her MFA from the Creative Writing program at Florida International University. Her short stories and poems in English have appeared in Haiti Noir (Akashic Books, 2011), The Beautiful Anthology (TNB Books, 2012), The Mom Egg, The Southeast Review, and The Caribbean Writer. M.J. is the founding editor of Sliver of Stone Magazine, and a regular contributor to The Nervous Breakdown. She is also a proud member of the Miami Poetry Collective, famous for its Poem Depot, a regular feature of Wynwood’s Second Saturday Art Walk. She’s a Board Member of Women Writers of Haitian Descent, Inc., and edited the Haiti anthology, So Spoke the Earth (WWOHD, 2012).